I feel safer

If there was any more evidence that the federal government’s steroids crackdown is driven primarily by headlines, look no further than this:

Barely more than a week after Major League Baseball suspended Phillies reliever J.C. Romero for 50 games for using a banned substance, the laboratory that produced the nutritional supplement that the left-hander claimed was tainted and caused him to falsely test positive has been raided by the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Ergopharm’s lab, located in Champ, Ill., and owned by chemist Patrick Arnold who was part of the BALCO steroids scandal, was raided by the DEA on Thursday, according to a source with knowledge of the situation who asked not to be identified. Ergopharm produces 6-OXO, which Romero said he purchased at a General Nutrition Center in Cherry Hill, N.J. Romero also said he believed 6-OXO was not banned by MLB.

Romero tested positive twice last season, on Aug. 26 and Sept. 19.

The New England Office of the DEA led the raid and was assisted by local DEA and police. No arrests were made and a document warrant was served.

I presume if the player involved was a bigger name than Romero, there would be an armed siege of the place right now.

Comments

Having followed the Romero situation a bit, but not too closely, I just noticed, for the first time, that he had TWO positive tests last season. Am I missing something, or does that pretty much put the lie to the “I didn’t know it was illegal” defense which Romero tried?

I think the way it works is this: You submit two samples at one time. One is tested, then if it comes back from the lab marked positive, the second one is tested to make sure there is no false positive. Technically, you test twice every time you test.

But then the information is slightly misleading to guys like Jason and myself, who read “two tests” and think that Romero must be some kind of idiot who was so commited to his supplement use that he refused to stop, even when he knew he was getting caught. Or maybe he was tested once, it came back positive and they didn’t tell him about it until they came to get more blood (which makes slightly more sense, I think. Anybody know the answer?